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It has been roughly one year since I very first tried chilaquiles. The boyfriend took me to a restaurant in Hillcrest to watch football on a Sunday morning and we ordered this. He was hesitant since his mama seriously makes the best chilaquiles ever, but I was eager to try to them. To me, this first introduction wasn’t so bad, but I remember him telling me that they were less than mediocre and had soggy chips. Now, I understand. I am obsessed. I could talk about how much I love this dish and probably eat it almost every day for breakfast. Oooh, and with a spicy michelada, it is like heaven almost.

The other day, one of my students brought me some chilaquiles in order to make me not realize that she walking into class an hour late. I think I opened my mouth to ask her for a valid reason for the tardy, but then I saw I had a gift, shut my mouth, and traded her the lunch I had packed for the chilaquiles.

You would think that this would satisfy my craving. It did not. All it did was make me want to cook some more for breakfast over the weekend.

Now, I learned how to make this recipe from the boyfriend. And by that, I mean he called his mom, asked for the recipe, and then bossed me around in the kitchen. This is what he calls “supervision” and he thinks that we are equals when it comes to the meals we share as a result. He believes this lie because he tells me how to make certain Mexican dishes that I didn’t grow up and didn’t experience until him, yet, I do all the actual cooking and he just stands over me and tells me what to do. So, while the credit must be given to boyfriend’s mom (not him), I certainly don’t claim to make them nearly as well.

For chilaquiles, you basically have a few things to do: fry chips, make salsa, and then combine it all together for the final product.

Making the chips is easy. You will need:

– Corn tortillas, cut into triangles
– Vegetable oil for frying

I usually use six small tortillas for two servings.

I like to keep my oil on medium heat so that I don’t burn the chips and they stay golden crispy. When all done, they look like this –

And yes, those are cooking ohashi in the background. This is Mexicanse, after all. Beside, cooking ohashi are long and make it very easy to flip the chips over and to remove them from the hot oil without splashing or getting oil burns (which has definitely happened to me in the past).

To start, I diced half of one white onion and minced about four gloves of garlic and cooked those in oil in a large skillet.

Then, add as many chile de arbol as you would like. I think I added about 10 this time, and it had a kick, but definitely not an overwhelming heat. The boyfriend even told me I should have made it spicier. This is a hard one sometimes, though, because you can’t really taste the heat until the final step when you blend everything.

If you have a mortar, I know boyfriend’s mom grinds her chile de arbol first. I am lazy and skip this step. Plus, my “supervisor” never showed me this step until I was already used to the method I am explaining now. So, add the chiles.

Add the tomatillos. I had about five and cut them in halves or thirds, depending on the size.

I cook all these things on about medium heat so that they don’t burn.

I also add about half a cup of water to this mixture to help break the ingredients down. The water also helps to make a smoother salsa, since without it, it can be rather thick. When you start to blend it together, you probably should add more water to make it the consistency that you like. To help with the breaking down of ingredients, I even sometimes use a potato masher on the tomatillos.

Cook it down till it starts to look like this:

Then, adding salt, pepper, and water to your taste, blend until it looks something like this:

As the last step, I also like to mix (not blend) in some chopped cilantro. I think everything tastes better with cilantro.

And final step…(finally!)…is to cook your chips and eggs together. For this final step, you need:

– Your chips
– Leftover oil from the frying of chips
– 3 eggs

Use a little of the left over oil from frying your chips and heat in a skillet. Beat the eggs with salt, pepper, and a little milk. Once your pan is hot, pour the eggs evenly on your chips.

Let the eggs cook for a second. Now, this is the piece that is a challenge for me. Once the egg starts to cook, you need to flip the chips over so the remaining egg can cook on the rest of the chips. DON’T STIR and don’t cover your chips. I had the hardest time making these my first few times and tried both those things in the hopes that it would make the egg stick to the chips — it doesn’t. Then, boyfriend’s mom showed me (in a frustratingly easy way) to flip the chips. I haven’t mastered this yet, and I still have some chips with lots of egg and some chips with no egg, but I am getting better.

When the egg is cooked, I like to add shredded cheese to the chips while they are in the skillet so it melts quickly. Then, move to your serving dish.

I top my chilaquiles with salsa, sour cream, and avocado slices. In my opinion, it is best served with refried beans (cook your own! I am converted – I will never eat canned refried beans again) and a spicy michelada. Mmmm….michelada.

The Boyfriend Rates It:4
The 5 goes to my mom on this one, but these are still delicious. The salsa is great tasting and spicy and that is really the key to great chilaquiles and of course light crunchy chips.